About Me

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Finance at Arizona State University, currently on the job market for 2025–2026 academic year. My research focuses on empirical asset pricing, with particular interests in behavioral finance, financial markets, and climate change. I use rigorous empirical techniques and rich financial data to examine how investor sentiment and climate transition risk affect asset prices. Before pursuing my doctorate in finance, I earned an MBA, as well as a B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering.  

Education

Arizona State University 

• • • PhD in Finance, 2026 (expected)

University of Louisville

• • • MBA, 2020

    • PhD in Civil Engineering, 2014

Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

• • • MS in Civil Engineering, 2010

    • BS in Civil Engineering, 2006

Job Market Paper

Rethinking Measures of Sentiment: A New Approach [PDF] [SSRN] [AFA Poster]

Abstract: I argue that valid measures of investor sentiment must satisfy additional conditions beyond conventional return predictability tests to imply sentiment-induced misvaluation. Specifically, both positive and negative sentiments should explain returns and volatility contemporaneously, and forecast returns. I show that several well-known sentiment indexes fail to fully meet these necessary conditions and introduce three new empirical indexes that perform better. These proposed measures demonstrate superior predictive power for returns both in-sample and out-of-sample, particularly over longer horizons; and survive the inclusion of non-sentiment variables known to predict returns. Further evidence shows that their robust forecasting ability extends to broader financial outcomes, including flows into actively managed equity mutual funds, implied market volatility (VIX), and aggregate credit spreads.

Dissertation Committee: Seth Pruitt (chair), Hendrik Bessembinder, Sunil Wahal, Oliver Boguth